Greg Martell first tried to buy his food truck in 2009. He was bidding on the fully outfitted vehicle in New Jersey, and when the owners called to tell him they had sold it to another buyer, he was crushed.

Less than a month later, when he was reporting to his first day of work as a chef de cuisine at Caseus Fromagerie & Bistro in New Haven, he spotted the truck pulling out onto the street — in its new function as Caseus Cheese Truck. His new boss, Caseus owner Jason Sobocinski, had won the bid.

Six years later, after completing two years at Caseus and another four as a front-of-the-house manager at Barcelona Wine Bar's assorted locations, Martell got a call from Sobocinski, who said he was looking to upgrade the Caseus truck to a larger vehicle.

"He wanted to give me first crack at buying back the old truck," Martell said. "He wanted to keep it in the family."

Under Martell's ownership, the New Haven-based truck now specializes in banh mi, Vietnamese-French sandwiches on baguette rolls with assorted meats, pickled vegetables and piquant sauces. Martell, a longtime chef, said his love of the unique sandwiches stems from his time working in New York City and Montauk.

Chief Brody's (yes, named for the protagonist in "Jaws," Martell's favorite movie) elevates the sandwich with high-quality braised Berkshire pork and vegetables from Newington's Eddy Farm, including cucumber, cilantro and pickled carrots and daikon radish. The included pate spread is his late mother-in-law's chopped liver recipe, which Martell loves.

"It was amazing to see my wife and father-in-law making it together while we were launching," he said. "It feels like she's part of the truck."

Banh mi fans know the sandwich's bread quality is critical: Martell searched throughout the tri-state area and finally found what he was looking for at Apicella's Bakery on New Haven's Grand Avenue.

"I needed a bread that was resilient on the outside, had an attitude and some grit, [but] could stay soft in the center," he said. "I liked the way I could put it on open flame and it just started to get like the outside of an eggshell. Every single piece of bread gets fire toasted to order by hand; the inside stays room-temperature. That's the whole idea."

The sandwiches are accented by sweet soy glaze and a "funky aioli," and when Chief Brody's parks at Connecticut breweries like New England Brewing in Woodbridge or Black Hog Brewing in Oxford, Martell will often use one of their featured beers to make a special hot sauce.

"It connects our story to that brewery," he said. Other sandwich extras include truck-made kimchi, jalapeno, a fried farm egg or crushed tom yum-flavored pretzels.

Martell launched the truck about a month ago with the help of his brother, Evan, a veteran Martell describes as mechanically gifted.

"He's been instrumental in launching this business. Plus, we get to hang out every day." He said Sobocinski has also been a "great mentor with getting us out there, pulling out of the gate responsibly."

Chief Brody's will continue to focus on the banh mi as its sole item, and Martell plans to swap up the proteins for variety.

"For now, we want to do one thing that we can stand behind that could possibly be great," he said. "This is the freshest stuff I can come across. We're doing one sandwich, trying to make one thing great and work on it every day."